Clothes smell damp

[Simba999]

Posting here for traffic. So I have a very expensive piece of clothing which I wanted to wear for a wedding, so in my previous home we did suffer from damp, this particular clothing was inside a dust bag zipped up but still has manage to somehow very heavily get the damp smell on it.

It can't be washed, only dry cleaned, but the dry clean hasn't taken the smell out of it at all! It's still there. I very heavily ferbreazed the life out of it, still smells, put perfume over it lol.

What can I do to take the smell out???

Air it?

Hang it out on the washing line on a dry but breezy day, it might get enough of an air out to smell fresh?

ThT is what am doing at the moment, the smell is still there

Wait until we have a few dry days in the forecast and peg it out on the line. Sun and wind are magic.

Ok I might just wait to do that, at the moment I keep getting it back inside after few hours incase of rain.

So airing it outside for good few days, should take the smell out?

What’s it made of? It might be ok to hand wash

There's lots and lots of layers and sequins all over it, won't be able to squeeze the water out of it without ruining everything on it

Hmmm, I think I’d give that a go tbh. A gentle hand wash liquid detergent, cool water, press it flat between towels then lay it flat outside to dry

Otherwise hanging it outside in the sunshine / wind would be a good call as suggested

Could you risk steaming it in the washing machine? You probably need a high temperature to kill off the bacteria that are causing the smell.

Could you make a washing powder water mixture and spray it with that and lthen leave to dry outside?

Spray with vodka? I know some theatres do this for costumes to get rid of sweat smells.

You can get dry wash spray for clothes from the supermarket or amazon prime, it’s called Day2. The purple one for delicates smells amazing.

This is it.

Could you make a washing powder water mixture and spray it with that and lthen leave to dry outside?

I really wouldn’t do this, I’ve got washing powder on delicate things before and the granules haven’t dissolved properly and have bleached the material slightly in spots

Peg it out on your clothes line to get a good blast of fresh air?

I think you may not get it out. Mils goose and clothes reek of damp (can’t tell her cos she’d cry and I’d be the bad guy 🙄). I washed some of her clothes when she stayed here and the smell didn’t change.

When is the wedding? I would probably go with @ShirleyPhallus's advice.

Obviously it's better if you can hold off until the weather is a bit warmer for drying purposes. If it takes too long to dry it will just end up smelling more damp!

I rarely listen to dry clean only, as long as you are cautious and use your common sense (cold wash, very gentle liquid detergent used sparingly, gentle wring/spin, reshape whilst damp and dried slowly and appropriately whether flat or hung) and I haven't ruined anything yet.

Bicarb! Get two old towels, lay one out flat and apply liberal amount of bicard. Lay garment out flat over this and add another layer of bicarb on top. Lay second towel over this. Roll it up and leave for 24 hours. Unroll and hang outside to blow it all off.

Mils goose and clothes reek of damp

To be fair, geese can be very soggy things at times.

@viciousjackdaw it’s an awesome occupational hazard lol. I of course meant her house, my DH stinks of damp if he goes to her house but he doesn’t notice it. That air is thick with it because she refuses to open the windows ever. A fly might get in you see.

I'd absolutely go for the bicarb method and if you have time dry clean after - good luck

Maybe buy one or two of these and hang them up in a zip up garment bag and see if it absorbs any of the smell?

Sounds like mold spores in which case they’re nearly impossible to get out.